Online transactions—e.g., for purchasing goods, receiving downloads, and so on—which involve personal computers and the Internet are well known. Further, wireless mobile communication devices, such as cell phones, blackberries or other personal digital assistants, are also being used for making transactions. For example, U.S. Patent Application No. US/2003/0172028 provides a description of a personal payment system that utilizes a wireless enabled device such as a cell phone. As described, the personal payment system interacts using a Bluetooth protocol with a terminal located nearby the wireless enabled device. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,945 describes a system and method that provides an electronic ticket to a smart card or standard wireless device that is identified with a user's account.
Further, wireless mobile devices that include a near field communication (NFC) device and a smart card (that uses an RFID for identification purposes) allow a person to securely make a simple transaction, such as for example, purchasing a bus ticket. In such an example, the person typically waves the wireless mobile device near a reader installed in a bus, and a price of the bus ticket is deducted from a total amount that is available and stored on the smart card of the wireless mobile device. Optionally, the amount of the bus ticket can be forwarded to a server that can identify the identification code of the particular RFID and then subsequently charge the person for the purchase of the bus ticket.
While the references discussed above illustrate that certain transactions are possible using wireless mobile devices, one problem associated with the references are is that implementations described in the references are not useful in a wide variety of different platforms, but rather are typically tied to a specific platform. For example, NFC devices are only usable with NFC readers. Another problem is that conventional wireless mobile devices generally have a very limited ability to be used in transactions.